“I spoke of the 'real' mathematics of Fermat and other great mathematicians, the mathematics which has permanent aesthetic value, as for example the best Greek mathematics has, the mathematics which is eternal because the best of it may, like the… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share Image
“The Greeks were the first mathematicians who are still ‘real’ to us to-day. Oriental mathematics may be an interesting curiosity, but Greek mathematics is… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“If the theory of numbers could be employed for any practical and obviously honourable purpose, if it could be turned directly to the furtherance… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“Even a pure mathematician may find his appreciation of this geometry [applied geometry] quickened, since there is no mathematician so pure that he feels… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“Immortality is often ridiculous or cruel: few of us would have chosen to be Og or Ananias or Gallio. Even in mathematics, history sometimes… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“One rather curious conclusion emerges, that pure mathematics is on the whole distinctly more useful than applied. ... For what is useful above all… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“It is the dull and elementary parts of applied mathematics, as it is the dull and elementary parts of pure mathematics, that work for… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“The seriousness of a theorem, of course, does not lie in its consequences, which are merely the evidence for its seriousness.” — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“Judged by all practical standards, the value of my mathematical life is nil; and outside mathematics it is trivial anyhow. I have just one… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“I had better say something here about this question of age, since it is particularly important for mathematicians. No mathematician should ever allow himself… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“I still say to myself when I am depressed, and find myself forced to listen to pompous and tiresome people, 'Well, I have done… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“The beauty of a mathematical theorem depends a great deal on its seriousness, as even in poetry the beauty of a line may depend… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“The mathematician is in much more direct contact with reality. This may seem a paradox, since it is the physicist who deals with the… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“It (proof by contradiction) is a far finer gambit than any chess gambit: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share
“I spoke of the 'real' mathematics of Fermat and other great mathematicians, the mathematics which has permanent aesthetic value, as for example the best… — G.H. Hardy Copy Share